Abstract
We describe a new mechanism for the laser cooling of atoms. The mechanism is based on the damping of the motion of three-level atoms by laser light pressure under the condition of coherent atomic population trapping. Because of the action of this mechanism, three-level atoms can be cooled below the temperature of the single-photon classical limit, Tγ = ℏγ/kB, to a temperature corresponding to the recoil energy, TR = ℏ2k2/2MkB. It is probable that the mechanism described has a part in the recently observed laser cooling of sodium atoms below the temperature ℏγ/ kB.
© 1989 Optical Society of America
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